Sri Lanka continue their minnow-battering trend

Ireland finished with their sixth-lowest total in World Cups, while only twice have World Cup games been won with more than 240 balls to spare

S Rajesh and HR Gopalakrishna

18-Apr-2007

It wasn't quite the way Ireland would have wanted a memorable World Cup campaign to end - their eight-wicket drubbing against Sri Lanka was one of the most comprehensive defeats in World Cup history. Cricinfo looks at some of the interesting stats from the game.

Farveez Maharoof: superb against the minnows, but not so effective against the better teams © AFP

Ireland's total of 77 is the sixth-lowest in the World Cup, the fourth sub-100 total in this tournament, and the second by Ireland - they had scored 91 against Australia, while Zimbabwe (99 against Pakistan) and Bermuda (78 against Sri Lanka) also suffered the ignominy of being bundled out for less than 100. In all, there have been 14 sub-100 totals in World Cups - four of them in this edition, and three each in 2003 and 1975.

Sri Lanka have made it habit of finishing off the minnows in double-quick time, and they did it again in Grenada - three of the seven lowest World Cup scores have now come against them.

Ireland's innings lasted only 27.4 overs, making it the sixth time a team had been bowled out in under 30 overs in World Cup matches. The least number of overs faced by a team being bowled out is 14, when Namibia were dismissed for 45 by Australia at Potchefstroom in 2003.

The match aggregate of 158 is the fourth-lowest in a World Cup game. The lowest is 73, in the game between Sri Lanka and Canada at Paarl in 2003 - Canada were bundled out for 36 and the Lankans romped to victory in a mere 4.4 overs.

Sri Lanka didn't take much longer to wrap it up here, finishing off the run-chase with 240 balls to spare. Only twice in World Cups have teams won more comprehensively, in terms of number of balls remaining - in the match mentioned above, Sri Lanka beat Canada with 272 deliveries remaining, while Canada suffered at the hands of England in 1979, losing with 277 balls to spare. Among all ODIs, this was the sixth-most comprehensive victory margin in terms of balls remaining. (Click here for the most comprehensive wins in World Cups, and here for the most emphatic ODI wins.)

The Ireland innings had five ducks, making it the fifth instance of five batsmen failing to get off the mark in an innings in the World Cup. The first such occasion was in the 1979 final, when five England batsmen failed to get off the mark. It happened twice in 2003 - in the Canada-Sri Lanka game, and when Sri Lanka succumbed to India later in the tournament. In the current edition it happened once before, when Bermuda were bundled out for 156 against India.

Muttiah Muralitharan recorded his best bowling figures in a World Cup match. His 4 for 19 is marginally better than the 4 for 28 he took against Kenya at Nairobi in 2003. He now has 451 ODI wickets - only Wasim Akram, with 502, is ahead in the wickets tally - while he only needs one more to complete 50 scalps in World Cups. (Click here for Murali's best spells in the World Cup.) This was also the 20th time Muralitharan has captured four or wickets in an ODI innings - only Waqar Younis (27) and Akram (23) have done it on more occasions.

Farveez Maharoof, who started the slide for Ireland, has now taken four wickets on two occasions in this tournament - he had earlier taken 4 for 23 against Bermuda. In six games in the World Cup, Maharoof has taken nine wickets at an average of 22. Filter out the non-Test-playing teams, though, and the numbers are rather less impressive - one wicket for 150 runs in 27 overs.

Kumar Sangakkara failed with the bat, but pouched three catches behind the stumps, taking his World Cup tally of dismissals to 32 - only Adam Gilchrist, with 44, has more dismissals in World Cups. In this edition, Sangakkara leads the way with 14, one ahead of Brendan McCullum.

Farveez Maharoof Muthiah Muralidaran Sri Lanka Ireland Ireland vs Sri Lanka ICC World Cup